No Surgeons Allowed

9 Meathead vets ignored the lingering rain and make the hard right choice to post at ELE, only to find a growing pile of sand bags, ruck sacks, and kettle bells. Uncertainty filled the air as YHC led the disclaimer.

Warm Up:

11’s with descending swings and ascending merkins

Transition/Instruction:

Grab 2 kettle bells each plus all the sand bags and rucks and move over to the bus lot. Divide into 4 groups. Each group of 2 or 3 will start at a different corer. Sand bag and Ruck exercises demonstrated. Each pax will carry 2 kettle bells around the AO from station to station in between each set of exercises. Modify exercise or rep count as needed.

AMRAP till 6:13. Go!

Four Corners of Pain:

Station 1: Sand Bags (40,60, 75, 80 pound options) – 10 reps each

Ground to shoulder (alternate L,R)

4 count military press (L to R to L, repeat)

Clean and toss (5 out and 5 back)

Station 2: Ruck Sacks (30-50 lbs) – 10 reps each

Ruck thrusters

Ruck overhead squats

4 count flutter kicks with ruck up

Station 3: Kettle Bells (large variety)

Upright rows – 10

Squats – 20

Swings – 30

Station 4: Body Weight (large variety of shapes and sizes)

Merkins – 10

Squats – 20

LBC’s 30 (you are welcome)

Transition back to launch – carry as much as you can, leaving YHCs gear for later pick up

COT and Namerama. YHC with take out.

The Skinny:

YHC has wanted to explore the other side of the ELE parking lot for quite some time now. The idea to have 4 corners with pain stations at each corner led itself well to this location. Part of the fun work was carrying all the gear to and from the bus lot. T-Claps to the pax whom I asked to bring gear! They all showed up with car/truck fulls. We had more sand bags than pax. We had enough kettle bells for an Area 51 convergence.

The idea was do offer some simple exercises with sand bags, rucks, kettle bells, and body weight and allow the pax to both modify down/slow down as needed but also modify up/speed up if desired. Hopefully those not too familiar with sand bags and rucks enjoyed the introduction and those experienced pax were given a chance to push themselves. The AMRAP idea is nothing new but YHC was inspired by Alf and McGee and others down at Wednesday’s WAMRAP.

The exercises seemed too easy at first, but YHC quickly tired from the grind of doing them over and over (and carrying those damn kettle bells) . Most pax got in 3-4 rounds. The sand bag exercises seemed the hardest, or at least the slowest. YHC realized that most would have uneven weights for the farmer carries but this simulates life well. How often do you lug your M’s suit case and your own suitcase up some stairs? Isn’t one heavier than the other? Life around us is not always balanced. It’s how we deal with the imbalances that defines us. Letting go of the need to always be right and to always be in control takes intention, humility, and courage. F3 allows us to fellowship with other men, be inspired by high impact men, and realize there are things bigger than ourselves worth fighting for. All while getting in better shape. #worthevery penny

Everyone put out great effort today. Didn’t hear much mumble chatter. The 11’s at the launch were in honor of Roster 011, who was the sole finisher of GORUCK selection class 020 this past weekend. If you missed it there is plenty of video footage available. Quite inspiring.

At the launch there was no music and no instruction and there were some questioning stares as to what the plan was and why we had a huge pile of gear. Took a few minutes to settle into our new location with the tunes and the rotation schedule but then everyone just went to work. Dora and Geraldo ended up pacing together. Just another day of ruck PT for those GORUCK vets. Everyone seemed to embrace mixing up the kettle bells with the sand bags and rucks. Even those pax better known for running were killing out there this am. I know I returned home dripping wet from sweat. Glad the rain stopped just in time for launch.

And the title of the BB comes from this social media post last night: “No surgeons allowed at Meathead tomorrow. High chance of grip strength failure by noon. Use caution if your occupation requires cutting, sewing, or fine motor skills”. The idea being that the farmer carries plus the other work would destroy our grip functionality/strength. Theory yet to be proven completely but YHC is having a tough time typing…

Thanks to site Q’s Voodoo and Witch Doctor for the chance to lead today.